Is There a Role for the Systems Professional in a Fourth Generation Environment?

Abstract

We are frequently reminded of the impact of change on the industrial sector (employment, working practices and job-satisfaction). In parallel, there has been a quiet, but equally significant, revolution taking place in the “white collar” sector where few procedures have remained unchanged since the ‘60s and ‘70s. These “white collar” changes have been largely in response to the changes in information systems as a result of greatly improved hardware/software and procedures concerned with their effective usage. Changes are also occurring in the Information Systems area; have we responded or is it going to be too late for some of us? There appears to have been an endemic distancing between the Data Processing/Information Systems departments and the “user” and, if the systems professional does not provide a cure, their days may be numbered.